Safety razor blade sharpener



Aug. 15, 1944. A, G. WAHL 2,355,763

SAFETY RAZOR BLADE SHARPENER Filed July 11, 1942 //I/VE/ flame 7' 7147/74 Patented Aug. 15, 1944 SAFETY RAZOR BLADE SHARPENER Albert G. V8111, Hollywood, Calif., assignor of one-third to Almond Balkins, Los Angeles,

Calif.

Application July 11, 1942, Serial No. 450,525-

2 Claims. (01. 51-161) My invention relates to a safety razor blade sharpener, and has for its principal object, to provide a simple, practical and inexpensive device, which may be conveniently employed for the comparatively rapid and efficacious sharpening of all transversely flexible double-edged safety razor blades.

A further object of my invention is, to provide a safety razor blade sharpener which is compact, composed of few parts, capable of being conveniently manipulated, and which may be used for the simultaneous sharpening of a plurality of blades.

With the foregoing and other objects in view, my invention consists in certain novel features of construction and arrangement of parts, which will be hereinafter more fully described and claimed and illustrated in the accompanying drawing in which:

Fig. 1 is a plan view of the sharpener with the cover removed.

Fig. 2 is a vertical cross section taken on the line 2--2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged detail section taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1.

Fig, 4 is an elevational View of a portion of the rotating blade carrying member.

Referring by numerals to the accompanying drawing, I0 designates a cup, formed of glass,

porcelain or other vitreous earthen material, and

the inner face of the circumferential wall of said cup is provided with an extra smooth surface.

.A cover ll of metal, plastics or other suitable material closes the open top of the cup while the sharpener i not in use.

The rotary blade holding member of the device is in the form of a cage or skeleton frame formed of plastics, lightweight metal or the like and comprises a bottom plate l2, a top plate l3 and circumferentially spaced upright members M, which connect the marginal edges of said plates.

The outer faces of upright members M are curved horizontally to conform with the curvature of the wall of cup I I].

The edges of the top and bottom wall of the blade carrier between the end of the upright members M are notched inwardly as designated by l5.

Portions of the bottom plate l3 are cut away to minimize the weight of the blade carrier, thereby forming openings I6, and formed on the underface of said bottom plate, is a small centrally arranged depending stud I! which provides a 1 Formed on the outer face of each uprightmember i4 is a narrow centrally arranged vertically disposed rib I 8, which enters the slot in the blade that is positioned against the face of said member, thereby firmly holding same upon the carrier during the sharpening function,

Both ends of the ribs 18 are bevelled as designated by IS in order to facilitate the positioning of the blades on the periphery of the carrier after the latter has been placed in the cup.

Formed in top plate l3 of the carrier are openings 20, which, in addition to decreasing the weight of the carrier, are adapted to receive the end of the operators index finger when the carrier is rotated to sharpen the blades mounted thereon.

By providing the rotary carrier with seven upright members [4, a corresponding number of blades may be mounted on the carrier, one for each day of the week, and in order to provide a guide so that the owner of the device may use the blades in proper sequence, the abbreviation of the names of the days of the week may be embossed, stamped or engraved on the upper surface of the plate I3 adjacent the upper ends of members 14, as illustrated in Fig. 1.

In the use of my improved razor blade sharpener, the'inner surface of the circumferential wall of the cup is carefully wiped to remove all dust, moisture or other foreign substances, after which the cage or carrier is placed in the cup with bearing stud l1 resting on the cups bottom.

The blades to be sharpened are now entered between the upper ends of the members l4 and the wall of the cup and as the blades are forced downward, they flex transversely to a slight degree so as to conform to the curvature of the outer faces of members [4 and the inner face of the wall of the cup.

When the blades have been moved downward to proper position on the carrier, the ribs l8 on the outer faces of members M will pass into the slots and said blades, thereby holding same firmly on thecarrier and with their edges bearing with considerable pressure, due to the flexing action of said blades, against the inner surface of the wall of the cup.

With the cup held in one hand of the user, the end of the index finger of the other hand is inserted in one of the openings 20, and by using said finger as a crank, the blade carrier is rotated first in one direction, and then in the other, so as to straighten out the metal fibres forming the edges of the blades, and consequently retarding same to the desired sharp condition.

Where vitreous material is used in the construction of the cup, very little, if any abrasive action occurs during the sharpening operation, for the desired results are attained as a result of the straightening of the fibre molecules of metal along the edges of the blade.

The cup might be formed of steel or other hard metal and. produce satisfactory results, or said cup might be composed of natural or artificial stone, composition or the like, in which case the sharpening action is brought about as result of abrasion.

Thus it will be seen that I have provided a razor blade sharpener which is simple in construction, inexpensive of manufacture and very effective in performing the functions for which it is intended.

It will be understood that minor changes in the size, form and construction of the various parts of my improved safety razor blade sharpener may be made and-substituted for those herein shown and described, without departing from the spirit of thelinvention, the scope of which is set forth in the appended claims. 7

I claim as my invention:

1. In a razor blade sharpener, the combination with a cup comprising a base and a circular wall, of a blade carrier arranged for rotation within said cup, said carrier comprising top and bottom plates and spaced ribs connecting the edges of said top and bottom plates the edges of said top and bottom plates between said ribs being notched inwardly to provide clearance for the razor blades positioned on the outer faces of said ribs, narrow ribs on the outer faces of said first mentioned ribs for engaging in the slots of the blades positioned on said carrier the ends of which narrow ribs are bevelled to facilitate application of the razor blades to said carrier and there being a plurality of eccentrically disposed finger receiving apertures formed in the top of said carrier.

2. In a safety razor blade sharpener, the combination as set forth in claim 1 with a centrally arranged bearing stud on the underface of the bottom of said carrier for engaging the upper face of the bottom of the cup.

ALBERT G. WAHL. 

